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We present a critical literature review debating Brazilian research on social and environmental accounting (SEA). The aim of this study is to understand the role of politics in the construction of hegemonies in SEA research in Brazil. In particular, we examine the role of hegemony in relation to the co-option of SEA literature and sustainability in the Brazilian context by the logic of development for economic growth in emerging economies. The methodological approach adopts a post-structural perspective that reflects Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory. The study employs a hermeneutical, rhetorical approach to understand and classify 352 Brazilian research articles on SEA. We employ Brown and Fraser’s (2006) categorizations of SEA literature to help in our analysis: the business case, the stakeholder–accountability approach, and the critical case. We argue that the business case is prominent in Brazilian studies. Second-stage analysis suggests that the major themes under discussion include measurement, consulting, and descriptive approach. We argue that these themes illustrate the degree of influence of the hegemonic politics relevant to emerging economics, as these themes predominantly concern economic growth and a capitalist context. This paper discusses trends and practices in the Brazilian literature on SEA and argues that the focus means that SEA avoids critical debates of the role of capitalist logics in an emerging economy concerning sustainability. We urge the Brazilian academy to understand the implications of its reifying agenda and engage, counter-hegemonically, in a social and political agenda beyond the hegemonic support of a particular set of capitalist interests.

This study aims to estimate the overall SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence and evaluate the accuracy of an antibody rapid test compared to a reference serological assay during a COVID-19 outbreak in a prison complex housing over 13,000 prisoners in Brasília.

The authors obtained a randomized, stratified representative sample of each prison unit and conducted a repeated serosurvey among prisoners between June and July 2020, using a lateral-flow immunochromatographic assay (LFIA). Samples were also retested using a chemiluminescence enzyme immunoassay (CLIA) to compare SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence and 21-days incidence, as well as to estimate the overall infection fatality rate (IFR) and determine the diagnostic accuracy of the LFIA test.

This study identified 485 eligible individuals and enrolled 460 participants. Baseline and 21-days follow-up seroprevalence were estimated at 52.0% (95% CI 44.9–59.0) and 56.7% (95% CI 48.2–65.3) with LFIA; and 80.7% (95% CI 74.1–87.3) and 81.1% (95% CI 74.4–87.8) with CLIA, with an overall IFR of 0.02%. There were 78.2% (95% CI 66.7–89.7) symptomatic individuals among the positive cases. Sensitivity and specificity of LFIA were estimated at 43.4% and 83.3% for IgM; 46.5% and 91.5% for IgG; and 59.1% and 77.3% for combined tests.

The authors found high seroprevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies within the prison complex. The occurrence of asymptomatic infection highlights the importance of periodic mass testing in addition to case-finding of symptomatic individuals; however, the field performance of LFIA tests should be validated. This study recommends that vaccination strategies consider the inclusion of prisoners and prison staff in priority groups.

The Sertão, located in the Northeastern region of Brazil, is the most populous semi-arid region in the world. The region also faces the highest rates of poverty, food insecurity and climate risks in this country. Basic economic activities, such as extensive livestock and dairy farming, tend to be mainly affected by the increasing temperatures and recurrent droughts taking place in the past decades. This paper aims to analyze farmers’ responses to climatic variability in the Sertão.

Analyses are based on farm-level data of the Agricultural Census 2006 and on historical climate data gathered by meteorological stations. The climate impacts and the effectiveness of adaptive strategies are compared between three groups of farms, which discriminate different levels of social and environmental vulnerability. Four production functions are modeled (milk, cattle, goat and sheep) accounting for sample selectivity bias.

In response to increasing temperatures, farmers tend to shift their activities mainly to cattle and dairy farming. But the overall productivity tends to reduce with the recurrence of droughts. Decreasing precipitation affects mainly the production of milk of smallholder family farmers and the cattle herd of non-family farmers.

Analyses do not account for short- and medium-run productive impacts of extreme droughts, which usually have devastating socioeconomic effects in the region.

Smallholder family farmers are the most vulnerable group who deserve more social and technical intervention, as they lack basic social and technological resources that can greatly improve their productivities and overcome the impacts of decreasing precipitation.

The case-study building of this work is the Medieval Inn of Gralheira (“Pousada Medieval da Gralheira”) located in Vila Pouca de Aguiar, Portugal. This building is an example of the structures of that time, located in Trás-os-Montes, Portugal. A large amount of the built heritage suffers from advanced degradation, making the recovery, increasing the complexity of the rehabilitation and restoration intervention and implying a highly specialized interdisciplinary component. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to carry out a study of the building in order to perform an analysis of its wood floor and assess its structural behaviour and conservation status. This work also presents some examples of intervention methods and rehabilitation techniques used to solve problems in the masonry structure and wood structures.

In this work, a numerical model of a wood pavement of a medieval building is presented, which was developed and calibrated with values obtained in an experimental campaign of wood specimens extracted from the floor structure and the deformation measured in situ. This model aims to analyse and predict the behaviour of the structure in terms of serviceability limit states. Rehabilitation and reinforcing techniques are described, for specific damages, complemented with a critical comparative analysis to define the most appropriate rehabilitation measures for each situation.

In this work, for the numerical model of the medieval building under consideration, the support of the beams in the walls between 50 per cent embedded and simply supported (hinge supports) was used. Since the beams have some restriction imposed by the wall, they have a delivery about 20 cm in the wall. The consideration of the delivery between beam and columns as simply supported (hinge supports) is a reasonable approximation. There is a difference between the values of deformation obtained in the numerical model and in situ due to the support conditions and also due to the consideration of the pavement loads as a distributed load, which does not correspond entirely to reality, since the pavement confers rigidity to the floor, behaving like a diaphragm. The presented intervention techniques are not applicable in all structures because each building has different characteristics, in terms of materials and construction. The pathologies occur due to many sources and each case is unique, and must be carefully studied before taking decisions about the rehabilitation methods to use.

This work presents a numerical model of wood pavement of a medieval building developed according to some experimental values obtained in an experimental campaign using wood specimens extracted from original beams and based on in situ measurements. This study is part of master thesis of Michael Andrade, an original research work.

This study aims to examine the role of edible mushrooms in the Brazilian diet, considering their strategic significance in meeting nutritional goals within sustainable development. Despite their potential in the nutrition of the Brazilian population, significant knowledge gaps still exist. To address this, the authors formulated this study into five main sections: the consumption of edible mushrooms in Brazil, the factors influencing the consumption, the occurrence of edible mushrooms in Brazil, the nutritional contribution of mushrooms consumed in Brazil and sustainable mushroom production in Brazil.

The authors compiled current literature to develop this viewpoint paper using systematic review, systematic search and narrative review search methods.

Mushrooms are sporadically consumed in Brazil, primarily by the urban population, with challenges in estimating the most used species. Social, economic and cultural factors, health considerations and reduced meat consumption influence mushroom consumption behavior. While Pleurotus ostreatus, Lentinula edodes and Agaricus bisporus are primary species, ethnomycological studies highlight a more diverse consumption among traditional indigenous communities. Brazil hosts approximately 133 wild mushroom species safe for human consumption. Some can be sustainably cultivated using substrates derived from agricultural and urban waste, offering high-protein, high-fiber, low-fat foods with bioactive compounds holding antioxidant and prebiotic potential.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no previous study has investigated how edible mushrooms contribute to the food and nutrition of the Brazilian population. This study emphasizes the crucial role of edible mushrooms in preserving Brazil’s cultural heritage, contributing to food and nutritional security and enhancing the overall diet quality.

This study aims to investigate the contribution of higher education institutions (HEIs) to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and propose strategies to cultivate a culture centred on the SDGs in HEIs.

The methodology used encompassed an integrative literature review, combining bibliographic analysis on how HEIs incorporate the SDGs into their practices, adopting a qualitative approach for the analysis and categorization of the results.

The multifaceted contributions of HEIs in promoting the SDGs stand out, through their roles in teaching, research, management and integration and communication between university and society.

While influencing policies at various levels, HEIs encounter challenges in the effective integration of SDGs into their strategies. This underscores the need for contextualized governance, understanding students’ perspectives on sustainability and active external collaboration in policy formulation.

There is an urgent need to integrate SDGs into academic programmes, emphasizing the importance of redesigning curricula, actively involving teachers, researchers and students, establishing partnerships and promoting research applied to SDGs.

The social relevance of the study lies in the emphasis on an SDG-centred culture, involving teaching, research, outreach, community engagement and governance practices.

The study’s uniqueness lies in identifying persistent challenges during the transition to an SDG-centred culture, necessitating multisectoral collaboration and educational programmes that integrate sustainability principles into the strategy of HEIs.

Local governments (LGs) play a crucial role as policymakers and catalysts for change at the local level, making them well-positioned to connect the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda goals with local communities. Therefore, LGs should collect and analyze data to monitor progress toward the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and report on the outcomes. In this regard, webpages on the internet stand out as a valuable tool to enhance accountability in LGs and to promote stakeholder engagement with the community. Thus, this paper aims to analyze whether Portuguese municipalities disclose information regarding the SDGs on their websites, and to identify the main drivers of SDG web-reporting.

Drawing on the theoretical foundation of legitimacy theory, this study examines the relationship between SDG reporting and the characteristics of several municipalities (such as geographical location, municipality size, financial performance, political ideology and gender), as well as adherence to some programs/networks/platforms (such as CESOP_Local and ODSLocal). The websites of 306 Portuguese municipalities were analyzed using the content analysis technique. A bivariate and multivariate statistical analysis was applied.

Bivariate analysis shows that coastal, larger and financially efficient municipalities are more likely to disclose SDG information on their websites due to visibility and stakeholder pressure. Contrary to extant literature, left-wing municipalities are not necessarily more inclined to embrace the 2030 Agenda. However, the presence of women in decision-making bodies and adherence to networks and sustainable programs positively influence SDG disclosure. In multivariate analysis, logistic regression identifies two significant factors impacting online SDG disclosure: the representation of women in municipal plenaries; and adherence to the CESOP_local network. Other factors show no significant influence, highlighting these two variables as the main drivers for SDG information disclosure.

The findings are in line with the literature review and lead us to conclude that SDG reporting in LGs is still in its infancy. Therefore, policymakers and regulators need to work together to implement and standardize sustainability reporting within LGs.

Considering the significance of the gender variable, the findings could have implications for policy formulation, promoting gender diversity and its impact on the quality of SDG reporting.

Empirical research on SDG reporting remains limited, particularly within the context of LGs. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no previous studies have delved into the reporting of SDGs specifically in this Portuguese context.